


A Matter of Trust

by TotalFanGirl221B



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Gen, Prompt Fill, Team Building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-25 23:30:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4980940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TotalFanGirl221B/pseuds/TotalFanGirl221B
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For this prompt: http://cabinpres-fic.dreamwidth.org/6968.html?thread=13807160#cmt13807160<br/>"On a team building workshop, the crew discover Martin is really good at trust exercises, as long as he's not the one expected to do the trusting. They set themselves the task of solving this issue in their own ways."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Cabin Pressure or any of the characters!

Martin didn’t understand why it was _obligatory_ for them to go to this team building workshop. None of them did, really. Carolyn had just announced in one day and it was final – nobody would argue. Well, Douglas did _try,_ but Carolyn would not allow him to worm his way out of it. “I don’t want to do it as much as you, if not _more._ However, if you want to stay in a job then you are going to have to.” She had said sternly, and that was that. Martin wanted to argue. He wanted to say he couldn’t, _wouldn’t_ go, but he did want to stay in the job. He wasn’t going to let some workshop prevent him from doing his dream job. No, he was going to have to just get on with it.

              That is what he had _planned_ to do. However, when they finally arrived he remembered everything. Those days at school, the taunts, the betrayal. How did he know this was going to be any different? Carolyn, firstly, was a shark. She didn’t even _pay_ him. How is he supposed to trust her with his life when she doesn’t provide him with anything to survive? Then there’s Arthur. Oh, he _wants_ to trust Arthur. Because obviously Arthur would never do something wrong on purpose, and he would still apologise for it profusely. Martin knew though that he could not trust _anybody._ Arthur looked up to Douglas, well, he looked up to the both of them, but mainly Douglas. And, perhaps, he would follow Douglas’ lead, and god knows Douglas would taunt Martin for some mistake. The mistake of _trusting_ him. Douglas laughed at him every single day of his life, how on earth was he expected to believe this man would not do so now? No. If everything did go wrong he would not trust any of them. He would trust Douglas to do his job, as would Carolyn and Arthur. But for them to really stick their necks out for him? Of course not. They would fool him here, for the sake of their jobs, and that would be that. They would make him trust them, fall for the trick, and then when he really _needed_ it, they would let him down.

              Carolyn went first. The first exercise was the trust fall. Martin _hated_ the trust fall. Some people dropped him, which he first suspected they would, and others would catch. He definitely hated the latter. Because that person did not really _want_ to catch Martin. They would do it, he would trust them, and then they would stab him in the back. Trust falls were the worst.

              They all caught Carolyn one by one, Arthur announcing this already to be “brilliant!” and then they moved on to the next exercise. Douglas and Carolyn were already finding this incredibly tedious, Arthur could not contain himself, and Martin was unusually timid. He hovered near the back as Carolyn was blindfolded and directed through the ‘minefield’. Arthur was attempting to guide her, but Douglas cut in a few times to correct him when he got the lefts and rights mixed up. Martin stood watching quietly, arms folded. Douglas noticed, and pulled him away for a moment, keeping one eye on Arthur making sure he was _definitely_ sure that left was left and right was right.

              “What’s wrong?” Douglas asked, a little annoyance in his tone. He wasn’t annoyed at Martin, really, just because he was being forced to spend his day off here. With a moody pilot.

Martin shrugged in response, looking to the ground.

“Come on, Martin.” What did he expect him to say? “I don’t trust any of you and I don’t want to be here because I’m going to either lose my job or start trusting you until you betray me and I realise that both of those consequences are equally bad” didn’t seem to appeal to Martin so much, not wanting to hurt Douglas’ feelings. He didn’t know why he wanted to spare the man’s feelings, after hours and hours of his feelings being ignored and destroyed by this man, why should he be happy?

“I- I just missed a van job today, that’s all.” He muttered, deciding now would _not_ be the best time to admit he had trust issues.

“Can’t you reschedule?” Douglas asked, a little of his annoyance seeming to fade. Martin shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.” Douglas said after a silence, hearing his name being called by Arthur and Carolyn. Martin sighed and rolled his eyes out of sight of Douglas. _Don’t worry about it._ That’s alright for him to say; he doesn’t depend on a second job for his next meal.

              The next exercise was one Martin had not done before, though it did not sound any more appealing than the rest of them. Someone would be standing outside and call for you until you found them. It was sort of like the last one, except the outside was involved now. In a room all he would hit was a wall or something. Outside he could hit anything. Fall down a hole or something. Yes, Douglas would find that particularly funny. He grimaced at the thought, and waited in silence until it was his turn.

              Arthur went next, trusting what anybody told him to do. Oh, so naïve, Martin thought. Still, it wasn’t as if Carolyn would guide her own son to humility, now. And Douglas did have a soft spot for Arthur, which he has shown on several occasions. So, Arthur got through it just fine, beaming as he completed it. Douglas joked with him, telling him that he may have almost lost them their jobs at Ipswich, but here he was definitely working to keep them all at work. Martin smiled half-heartedly, not really paying much attention.

              Douglas’ turn next, and Martin was guiding him with the help of Arthur who refused to just be quiet. Martin was agitated and bothered. This was tedious and stupid. It did not need to be done. Douglas could hear the annoyance in Martin’s tone as he ordered him around the minefield, tried to comment on it, but as he opened his mouth Martin threw out another command, and so he shut up. Martin was never usually this angry when missing a van job. Perhaps his situation had become worse. Douglas would have to ask later, when they were alone.

              Martin gulped. “Right, Captain Crieff. The trust fall is first, so, if you wouldn’t mind…” the organiser spoke. Right. He stepped forward, ready. Ready to drop himself into the hands of these people. Would they catch him? Would they let him drop to the floor and then laugh as he struggled to get up? He didn’t know which he preferred at the moment, knowing if they _did_ catch him they would just be trying to lull him into a false sense of security. He glanced at the crew, Douglas ready and waiting behind him. He turned back and shut his eyes. He _had_ to fall. _Come on._ He _tried,_ he really did. But he just _didn’t want to fall._ So, he didn’t. He didn’t move. Douglas stood behind, waiting and waiting but Martin never went backwards. They couldn’t betray him if he didn’t do what they wanted.

             After a few minutes, Douglas began to get more and more exasperated. “Captain, the clue is in the name Trust _Fall._ You need to fall backwards in order for me to catch you, Sir. If you don’t get it from the name, we have all just demonstrated it for you; it’s quite simple really.” The more Douglas went on, the less likely Martin became to just dropping himself. He stood straighter as Douglas carried on, and eventually the organiser stepped in.

             “Right, well this obviously isn’t working.” The organiser noted down on some paper, and then turned to the rest of the crew. “We can just move on to the next one and perhaps come back to the trust fall later.” She smiled reassuringly, but Martin knew what he had to do.

He didn’t move. The minefield may not have been a _real_ minefield, but it may as well have been. He knew if he trusted Douglas to guide him, he would do so just to make him trip or something. Something that would get a laugh. Because that is all Douglas cared about; making a joke out of Martin. That’s what most people cared about. Those at school who had done exactly the same thing. Why would this be any different? Because they worked together? Because Martin actually, for some awful reason, considered Douglas a _friend?_

              Again, the organiser decided they should move on to the next exercise, which Martin didn’t really understand; if he didn’t trust Douglas or any of the crew to guide him around _inside,_ why would he do so _outside_ when there would be a lot more obstacles. Douglas gave an irritated sigh when Martin didn’t move an inch. “Sir is being incredibly tricky today, do you _want_ to be here all night?” No. No of course Martin didn’t want to be here all night. He also didn’t want to fall into the trap. The trust trap; they _would_ let him down, he knew it. He said nothing. “Right. Fine. Don’t listen to me, see if I care.” Douglas announced, pushing past Martin as he stormed off back inside the building. Why Martin was acting so childish he didn’t know. It was hardly _his_ fault Martin had missed out on a van job. What had he to do with it? He didn’t want to be here as much as Martin didn’t, so why would Martin make it ten times worse for all of them?

              The organiser came rushing back in, shepherding the crew to their seats. Carolyn and Douglas looked irritated. Martin looked worried but determined. Arthur looked a little saddened. “Skip, you can fall back – Douglas _will_ catch you. He caught me!” he had tried to convince Martin, but the memories would not even let Arthur in. Of course Douglas had caught _Arthur._ Nobody would want to drop Arthur that was just mean. You wouldn’t get a laugh out of it. _Martin_ was a completely different story.

“Right, well.” The organiser began, looking a little put out. She had not expected it to go this way. Once the rest of the crew had had their goes, she had expected the captain to follow their example. Clearly there was an issue. “Everything went well, except for you, Captain Crieff.” Everybody turned to him. He blushed awkwardly on instinct and tried to move from their gaze, or _glares_ in Carolyn’s and Douglas’ case. “Do you want to take a break or something and then try again?”

“Perhaps that would be wise,” Douglas commented, still glaring at Martin as if he had no other option. “The Captain must have not understood what exactly would take place today, and so has not come prepared. I’m sure he’ll get the hang of it soon enough.”

“No.” Martin finally spoke, looking them all back, refusing to let his nervousness get the better of him this time.

“What?” Carolyn now demanded.

“I said no. As in ‘no, I will _not_ take a break, I will _not_ prepare myself, and I will _not_ be trying again.” He stood up quickly, attempting to stand tall. The crew looked at him now in disbelief.

“What on earth do you mean you won’t do it? Of course you’ll bloody do it, and soon!” she ordered, but Martin didn’t falter.

“No, I won’t.”

“Martin, why not? Don’t you trust us?” Douglas spoke. He had lost the harshness in his tone now, and spoke softly. Martin didn’t notice however, and let out what he had been holding in since this godforsaken day had begun.

“No. No, because I know how this works! You'll catch me when I fall so I'll think I can trust you, and then – then you'll lead me into all the obstacles in the 'minefield' and then you'll lead me into a river or something! You can't humiliate me if I don't play along! And so I’m _not going to do it.”_ With that he stormed out, refusing to feel any guilt for what he had just admitted to the rest of the crew. The organiser seemed a little shocked, as did the rest of them, and she coughed awkwardly.

              “I, er… I’ll leave you to get things sorted.” She smiled hesitantly. “You have my number, perhaps you could organise another time?” Carolyn nodded, and so the organiser awkwardly left the room as well.

“Skip… really doesn’t trust us?” Arthur managed to speak, sounding as though he were a puppy who had just been kicked. Carolyn immediately got that idea and made sure it was demolished.

“No, I think perhaps he just doesn’t trust _anybody.”_ Douglas concluded, looking at the door which Martin had slammed minutes before.

“That’s awful! Why not?”

“Well, you heard what he said: he knows how it works, they – whoever ‘they’ are – make him trust them and then betray him as soon as they get the chance. He probably thinks we’re no different.” And Douglas couldn’t really see why he should; he didn’t give Martin hope that perhaps he respected him, or even cared about him. But he did. Douglas did consider Martin to be a close friend, despite the jokes made at his expense. That’s why Martin didn’t trust him; the jokes, the little taunts that obviously Martin didn’t find funny nor harmless. Why would he think anything else of Douglas? And Carolyn realised she was no better; not even giving the boy a salary and then expecting him to come in on days off when he was trying to make money with his van. And she was running a business which could fold at any moment, meaning Martin could be out of a job at any time. Arthur didn’t really understand why Skip didn’t trust _him._ Maybe it was because of the whole Ottery St Mary fiasco, or something. Or, it was because Skip never had any real friends, and those who claimed to be stabbed him in the back sooner or later.

“We had better do something,” Douglas announced before Arthur or Carolyn had the chance.


	2. Chapter 2

“Martin, a word please.” Carolyn called from her office. Martin knew she would eventually, though he still had no idea what he was supposed to say to her. What was there to say? He had covered pretty much everything upon leaving that awful trust course thing, whatever it was. He did feel a little guilty that night, having ignored their continuing phone calls. They probably weren’t going to yell at him over the phone, he realised as he attempted to get some sleep. Still, he did not want to risk it. To be honest, he just didn’t want to speak to anybody at that moment in time anyway, even if they had just been calling to check if he was alright. Which they probably hadn’t been. They had probably just been calling not to yell, but to ask him to come back, which he definitely did _not_ want to do.

                 So, here he was; he had decided he couldn’t just not turn up to a flight either, now that _was_ ridiculous. He knew though as soon as he had arrived it wouldn’t be long until Carolyn had ushered him into her office. Whether it was to scream at him, to fire him, God only knew, but now here he was just waiting.

                 He stood awkwardly, nervously fiddling with his fingers whilst attempting (and failing) to act as though nothing had happened these past few days. As though he hadn’t ignored all of the MJN crew for the past say three days. Carolyn glared at him as he entered, raising an eyebrow as he almost shrugged his shoulders, as if he had no clue as to why he had been called in. He opened his mouth, about to end the silence that had surrounded him as he stood there pathetically waiting. However, Carolyn got there first and he immediately shut himself up, grateful that he didn’t have to begin. “So, Martin. How are you? Well?” Carolyn asked all too kindly. Martin, he had to admit, was a little thrown by the question. He had expected the interrogation to begin immediately, not to be lulled into a false sense of security. Did Carolyn not understand that was _exactly_ why he did not want to participate in the trust exercises? He shrugged again cautiously, waiting for her to say more. “I’ve been considering some… things.” She spoke, opening her desk drawer and pulling something out. Martin paid no attention to that, already waiting for the next few words she was bound to come out with. He grimaced as she looked up once more, a smile gracing her face. He seemed confused, but knew he obviously hadn’t meant so much to them at MJN after all. “Martin, here.” She spoke kindly, handing something across the desk. Martin was, for the moment, stuck. He froze for a minute, only a minute, and then went to grab the piece of paper with shaky hands. Then, as he glanced over it, his eyes widened. What on earth…? “It’s your pay check; the first of many, I hope.” Martin was, once again, frozen and completely baffled. He opened his mouth several times, trying to form some sort of sentence, but all the words he knew had left him and so he was left staring at the paper in his hands as though he had just been broken. “Oh, stop that! You look like a rather pathetic fish.” Carolyn ordered, but with more kindness in her voice than cruelty.

“What- what… when did you get the money? How?” he asked, glancing up to the CEO.

“Never mind where I got it,” she smiled mischievously. “You wanted a pay rise, there is your pay rise.” Martin didn’t know what to do. A small smile began forming on his face as he realised he _wasn’t_ being fired, but actually sort of the opposite. He was _finally_ being paid to fly planes. “I know it isn’t much, but it should do you for now; perhaps you may not have to do as many van jobs. Maybe then one day I can give you a proper increase.” Martin looked up in utter disbelief, thinking now this must all be some sort of cruel dream and he would wake up in his dingy flat wishing he could come back to this moment. He pinched himself discretely on his wrist, and he felt the pain shoot through him. No. It was _real. How…?_

“No, no. This is good. Really- really good, thank you so much, Carolyn. Thank you.” He beamed, his smile crossing his face even more, almost reaching his eyes.

“It’s nothing; you do a difficult job and you deserve _something.”_ She smiled, a motherly smile which Martin felt privileged to see.

“Thank you.”

                 Martin went home that day a lot happier than he had left it, and he realised that perhaps Carolyn, despite her still being quite the shark, _was_ trustworthy. She clearly did value Martin, and perhaps he had completely misjudged her. Perhaps.

* * *

 

“Skip?” Arthur spoke the next day, coming into the porta cabin after having been on the hunt for some bagels. Martin had tried to ask him why on earth he wanted bagels, but apparently it had been a secret. Anyway, the steward had returned from his unsuccessful mission with a questioning look aimed in Martin’s direction. Martin had once again tried to question his need for bagels, but Arthur himself now seemed to have forgotten, as he was now focused on a different matter.

“Yes, Arthur?” Martin asked, looking up from his pile up of paperwork. And Douglas’. Trust Douglas to still be missing from the porta cabin. Yes, perhaps it was standby, but Douglas still needed to _be here._ The captain groaned internally and then turned to Arthur who now looked even more puzzled simply staring at Martin. “What’s wrong?” Martin asked, worried he maybe had something on his face.  

“I… er, I just wondered…” Arthur struggled, which was a little worrying. Arthur only struggled when he was upset mainly, or angry (which was quite rare with Arthur). “Do you… do you not trust me? Is it something I’ve done?”

“What?” Martin almost shouted as Arthur looked at him with a sort of sadness in his eyes, making the captain feel even worse about himself and his decision only four days ago. None of this had been Arthur’s fault, not really! And he only didn’t have any trust in Arthur because he looked up to Douglas, and so really this was routed back to Martin’s trust issues with the first officer. None of this had much to do with Arthur, and the fact that he should think that hurt Martin a little.

“It’s just, the other day, you said…” he paused, Martin watching him struggle.

“I-I know what I said, Arthur.” He sighed, shaking his head as if ridding himself from the mistake he had made. “I didn’t- didn’t mean _you,_ not- not _really. But…”_

“But those other people from before…?” Arthur interrupted when Martin paused. The captain looked up, no longer seeing sadness in Arthur’s eyes, but his usual brightness, as though everything was going to be alright. Martin nodded reluctantly, lowering his head in shame. “Don’t be upset, Skip!” Arthur said kindly, moving closer. “People used to be mean to me all the time as well,” he smiled comfortingly, though this smile didn’t reach his eyes as his usual ones did. “But now it’s different; you guys aren’t like that! I know you’d never do anything mean to me, Skip. And Douglas, he pretends like he doesn’t care, but he really does!” he smiled, this one reaching his eyes Martin thought thankfully. He smiled nervously at Arthur, his cheeks already blushing now under all the attention.

“Yes, well. I never… I never meant _you,_ Arthur. Of course I trust _you.”_

“What about the others? I know mum likes you! She won’t say anything, but she really does, y’know?”

“What?”

“Yeah, otherwise she wouldn’t have tried so hard to find money to give you as wages.” Arthur nodded his head frantically, trying to get Martin to understand. Martin looked at him, now it being his turn to seem confused.

“I-I thought MJN had come into some money? How can she possibly afford…? His voice trailed off, looking to Arthur who was bouncing ready to give him the answer.

“She tried really, _really_ hard! And even Douglas helped!” _What? Douglas_ helped? _Helped do what, exactly?_ “He really does care about you, Skip; said mum should split half of his wages to give you something, he said it was about time you had something. I know he teases you, Skip, but he teases me as well! He doesn’t mean it, he just misses being a captain… He does really care about you though, Skip. Trust me.”

And, for some reason, Martin _did._ Martin, despite four days ago having said that he did not trust any of his crew, now realised that they did _really_ care about him. Even though he had been so cruel to them. They hadn’t screamed at him, fired him, or even ignored him. They tried to _call_ him, they tried to make it all up to him. They didn’t even ask him to go back, even though they _needed_ to complete that course. Because Martin Crieff _was_ important to them, and he _should_ trust them.

* * *

 

Eventually, Douglas had arrived to work. Still late, but nevertheless, he was here. Martin wanted to take him out for a word. To say thank you. To tell him he was his friend. To tell him he _did_ trust him. Though, he just never found an opportune moment. Douglas was doing paperwork for most of the day. Douglas was _actually helping,_ and _not_ teasing Martin. And, for some very odd reason, Martin found it strangely unnerving. Of course, this is what he had wanted. Not like this, though. Not really. He wanted the teasing to stop, but not their banter. Not their friendly comments. Not their games.

                   “Douglas?” Martin called out to the first officer who was just walking over to his Lexus after another wasted day in the porta cabin. Mr Goddard having not shown up or even given the slightest hint of him still wanting the flight. “Douglas!” again the captain called out, and this time Douglas came to a halt, turning as he attempted to quench his annoyance down; the last thing he wanted to do was project his irritation on to Martin right now.

“Yes, Martin?” he quirked an eyebrow, waiting patiently as the younger man caught his breath.

“I-I just… I wanted to say thanks.” Martin smiled, inhaling deeply after having almost chased Douglas through to the carpark.

“What on earth for?”

“I know, Douglas.” He paused, yet there was still no sign that Douglas had any idea at all about what the younger man was referring to. “What you did, my pay check.” Realisation dawned on the older man’s face, yet he quickly replaced it with a mask of nonchalance, shrugging his shoulders.

“Ah yes, I heard about that. Carolyn finally decided to give you something?” Martin rolled his eyes, but continued to smile.

“Oh shut up, Douglas! Arthur told me.”

“ _Arthur?_ Ah, I see you got your evidence from a reliable source, then.” The first officer replied sarcastically, but Martin’s smile didn’t falter.

“ _Douglas,”_ he groaned. “Let me thank you.” For a moment, Douglas didn’t say anything. He could continue this façade and eventually Martin would let it go, not knowing what to believe. Or, perhaps, he could just let Martin thank him and drop the subject.

“You are welcome,” he replied sincerely, turning once more to his car. However, apparently Martin hadn’t finished as a hand grabbed his shoulder and swiftly turned him around once more.

“I also want to apologise,” he began, lowering his head a little as a blush began to appear. Douglas would have made a snarky comment, but now knew that this was not the time. “For saying I didn’t trust you, implying that we weren’t… friends. B-because we are. At least, I-I like to think we are, y-you’re my friend. A-and I-I do. I do trust you, I mean. Y-you tease me, and it- it does… I don’t always like it… but I forgot about other- other times when you’ve help- helped me out and I’ve never… never really _thanked_ you before, so. Thank you. And I- I trust you.” He spoke quickly, barely gasping for breath as he tried to get it all out at once. Douglas simply stood in silence, not mocking the younger man once.

“Yes, Martin. I also consider you a friend – a close one, in fact. And should you ever be in need of my assistance, I hope you know you _can_ turn to me, and _trust_ me. I hope you don’t think I did this in order to get that course over with, Martin. It doesn’t bother me when we get it done, as long as you don’t just do it because you feel you are being forced to do so, I want you to actually _trust_ me.”

“I-I do. Really.” Martin smiled sincerely, and the first officer matched it with his own.

“Can I go home now, then?” Douglas spoke after a moment, managing to make Martin chuckle.

“Ah, yes, yes! Sorry.” He said nervously.

“No problem,” Douglas smiled, nodding his head about to turn.

“Oh, wait! Douglas?” Douglas rolled his eyes, though not dropping his smile.

“Yes, Captain?”

“Er… today, it… it was nice, but er… I thought it was a little quiet.”

“Yes, sorry about that. It seems an awful lot of paperwork had to be done.” He frowned. “Seeing as you did my work when you were at MJN for free, perhaps now you are being paid you could continue to do my work?” Douglas smirked. Martin groaned, but there was no clear anger or frustration in it. Instead, he nodded to Douglas, smiling gratefully. “Goodnight, Captain.”

“Goodnight, Douglas.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Yes, it is done! So sorry for the delay, but I've had a bit more work on so I haven't had a lot of time. However, it is here now, and I hope it's as good as you wanted it to be! If not, I apologise, and I also do if there are any mistakes because it is very later here and so there are probably a few. Also, if you read my other fic The Man Who Can't Be Moved, I am hoping to update that soon as well, so don't worry :) Thanks a lot for reading!


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